The Time of Chaos
by TheCharredDragon
Summary: A Mightyena abandoned by her tribe is saved by a Fraxure she has met earlier and with nowhere to go, joins him on his quest to stop Groudon and Kyogre duelling by finding Rayquaza. But with the land damaged and the forces of the fight splitting the land in two, will they ever fufill their journey?
1. Chapter 1: A New Friend

Greetings and salutations! Welcome to my first Fanfiction! I'm mostly new to writing Fanfiction as a whole and so I most likely make plenty of mistakes such as comma use, paragraphing and so on.

I'm not so sure how to rate this so I'll just give it rate it PG-13 (or T in ) just in case I put something not for children.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokémon or anything related to it. That honor resides to Nintendo, The Pokémon Company, and others.

I do however own this story, its characters and plotline. Characters and anything else that is from this story will not be used anywhere or anyplace without my permission.

Thank you for your kindness.

And without further delay, I present to you:

The Time of Chaos

Chapter 1: A New Friend

"The Chaos Period, more commonly known as 'the time of chaos', was the time when Groudon and Kyogre fought and the first villages were built and founded. But despite what it's known for, in the Chaos Period, villages were still few and far in between and the battle between Groudon and Kyogre was more fierce and devastating than it is depicted in art, illustrations, and so on. But even we experts are not completely sure of that. As it happened so long ago and so few villages existed at the time, very few texts were written and fewer remain long enough to be readable that some researchers even call it 'the Pokémon Dark Age'. And unless someone is granted to travel back in time by the mysterious Celebi or the Time Deity Dialga, or is given the power to travel back in time whether by chance or destiny, we will never know what happened in 'the time of chaos."

Extracted from the journal of Sherlos Frills the Heliolisk

3000 years later.

**Zaphil, a very long, time ago.**

The landscape was barren and black with ash clouds covering the often blocked out sun and no plants, not even dead ones, were seen across the rocky black field. In it, a lone wolf, literally, was dashing through it, looking for its next meal. The creature is known today as a Mightyena, and it was her turn to hunt for her tribe.

The Mightyena slowed her speed and eventually stopped, panting as she rested her muscles from exerting them. She took a look at her surroundings to register them in her memory. The terrain was still the same as ever, black and barren. Off in the very far distance, there was a large volcano spurting out lava and creating Lava Rivers around it. She looked in front of her and found out that she was at the top of a tall cliff. She analyzed the area below, first registering whether she would survive a fall from this height. Below, she saw a Lava River that flowed from the top of the volcano.

She stared at it for a while and found that there was nothing of interest and prepared to leave, but stopped when she saw something from the corner of her eye. She turned and looked over the cliff again, and saw that her vision was right. From her viewpoint, she could see something looking into the Lava River. She backed up to jump, knowing she can survive. She ran and jumped from the cliff and because of her light form and predator paws, landed very quietly. She started running towards the creature she saw and when she was in most prey's field of vision, she started to crawl slowly to the figure, her black fur blending with the volcanic rock.

With her belly dragged over the ground and her breathing controlled, she started to calculate and figuring out what it was and whether it was worth killing or not. Even though the only significant light source was the glowing lava from the Lava River, she could identify what the creature was with her vision and smell. The creature was what is known today as a Fraxure, a younger species of the noble Dragons. She heard from tales of these fierce and noble creatures, their sheer power and ferocity was said to be able to destroy entire islands in their rage. But despite that, it is said that a young Dragon, depending on the species, is more delicious than a Farfetch'd. And for sure, she couldn't remember anything that said Fraxure was delicious.

But staying alive meant eating everything you can, and take every opportunity to get food. So she started analyzing the Fraxure and her chances on killing it. The Fraxure appeared to be healthy and its armor didn't have scars or cuts at all, and it didn't seem to have any disabilities either. This surprised her. She noted that its tusks look remarkably well kept and sharpened, and had no chipped of areas on it in any way. So she sighed, coming to the conclusion that she wouldn't be able to take down the dragon without being horribly injured in the process.

She started to back up slowly to leave as the risk of horrible injury and even death, was higher than she had hoped. She continued to back away, her eyes keeping track of the Fraxure, but she stopped in her tracks when her sharp ears heard the Fraxure spoke.

"I'll find my way to it, to stop this chaos. Just wait and see I'll be able to find it."

From its voice, she identified it as a male. She than continued to walk backwards but because her mind was somewhat distracted, she didn't step carefully and stepped on a dead twig that creaked from the pressure. She tensed up, knowing that her cover has been blown clear out of the window. She had hoped against hope that she wouldn't be spotted as the Fraxure turned around, presumably to find the source of the sound. The Fraxure looked around for a few seconds before its sight landed on her. But what the Fraxure did next will be something that will puzzle her for the rest of her natural life.

"Oh, hi there! You looking for something?" The Fraxure said rather cheerfully.

This completely befuddled her out of her mind, as why would a predator ask another predator about anything? Let alone be kind asking the question.

"Uh, hello?" The Fraxure asked snapping her out of her perplexed thoughts. Deciding that there was no harm in answering the question, she followed her tribe's etiquette by sitting up to show her respect. She cleared her throat and then she answered in a voice that sounded like she was growling or having a hard time to breathe.

"No."

"So what are you doing here then?" The Fraxure questioned tilting his head.

She internally flinched at the questioned. Not wanting to risk her tribe, despite being picked on, she decided to make the most believable lie she could. "Going home." She answered.

"Oh, I see. So, do you have a name? Or do you prefer to be called by your species name, Mighteanno?" The Fraxure asked, seemingly wanting to prolong the conversation.

She groaned internally at the Fraxure's loquaciousness. Even Schnitzel wasn't as rambling as this. Again deciding that there was no harm, she answered. "Cernaniab."

"Cernaniab? That's new for me. My name's Ifret." The Fraxure said happily with a smile.

Cernaniab just stared at the newly introduced Ifret, not so sure what to say or do. The awkward silence lasted for a while and neither said a word as the world around them moved and went on its business. A question formed in her head as Ifret looked like he was about to say something. "What are you doing here?" She asked, beating Ifret to the punch.

Ifret's mood seemed to dampen slightly when she said that. Cernaniab was about to apologize for the question but she was cut off when Ifret answered the question. "I came here to think." He said.

"Thinking?" Cernaniab repeated, confused on what he said.

Ifret made a somber smile and nodded. "Yeah, you see. I found out something and when I told my village what I wanted to do, they thought I was insane. So, I went here to think." Cernaniab nodded, confirming that she heard it. Then all of a sudden, Ifret stood up. "You know what; I know just what to do now." Ifret said abruptly and started to walk away.

Cernaniab just watched as Ifret started to walk away, but before he was too far, he turned around. "It was nice meeting you Cerna, and thanks for the chat!" He said happily with a wave before running off and out of her sight.

"Cerna?"

…..

After Ifret left, Cerna scowered her tribe's territory to find their next meal, eventually, she found a lone Krokorok who was also hunting and fought with it. The fight was mostly brutal but brief, with Cerna cutting off the wind pipe. She took a bite to fill her stomach for the trip back and then held the dead Krokorok's tail and carried it back to the tribe grounds.

The tribe grounds were nothing much to look at. There was a cave where the tribe slept in, but other than that, it was the same as the rest of the land, a black rocky field with no living plants. Mightyena started gathering in front of the cave as Cerna neared the area. A Mightyena walked up to her and started scolding her for being late, but she felt that it was just an excuse to shout at her. The Mightyena was one of the many higher ranked tribe members who picked on her. She placed the Krokorok carcass in the dining area and Mightyena started eating it.

Cerna ate slightly more than she usually is allowed since she got the meal. After dinner, everyone immediately went inside the den as the light from the sun dimmed. Cerna went to her respective sleeping area and lay down on the rock. Her thoughts landed on her encounter with Ifret the Fraxure as she drifted to sleep.

…..

…..

"Wake up Cernaniab!"

Cerna winced and was jolted awake by the voice. She gasped for air from the shock, but then realized it was just one of higher ranked tribe members who pick on her again. She stood up and watched as the one who woke her walk outside of the cave. She sighed at her tribe member's antics and went out the cave.

She lined up with some of the other Mightyena that were lined up as well. Many of the Mightyena eyed her due to their dislike of her, to which Cerna just sighed. The leader of the tribe, Cronolis, examined the line up one by one to choose for this week's hunting party. He quickly chose her and several others and set off as swiftly.

…

…

The hunting party searched through their territory for a while, with rest stops in between, Cerna continued running but then noticed something and slowed her pace to a stop to look at the area. The area was like the mythical forests except the legendary trees were replaced with tall, pointed and black rocks across the black volcanic field. But one thing was missing. Her hunting members noticed that she had stopped and all of them ceased running and looked at Cerna.

"Hey! Cernaniab! Why'd you stop?" A female member demanded.

"Has anyone seen Schnitzel?" She questioned back.

At this, the members of the hunting party looked around to see if Schnitzel was around, but found that he wasn't. The group was about to search a bit more thorough until a voice boomed through the ranks.

"Quit your dilly-dallying! Let's get moving!" The owner's voice was the leader of the tribe, Cronolis. Many of the Mightyena winced at Cronolis's order. Cronolis then continued on and because he was the leader, the rest of the pack followed due to his leadership. Cerna took one more glance at the area and prepared to leave but stopped to turn around when a large explosion sounded. At first she thought she was seeing things in the dust cloud, but a figure was running through the dust cloud.

And then she heard the faint sound of a voice that got louder until her, and her hunting party members, could hear it.

"Run!"

At this, her pulsed quickened and she immediately ran, but managed to catch a glimpse of what was going on. The one who shouted the warning was Schnitzel, and she saw why, as an Arcanine was chasing them in what it seemed to be in its rage.

….

In the distance, a species of Pokémon that was something you wouldn't see in these parts, jumped from atop one of the tall pointed rocks onto another similar rock and clutched it tightly as it rested. He scanned the area to see anything that might be of interest and spotted a dust cloud. Knowing that that was not normal in this area, he decided to head towards it. He jumped from his perch to the closest rock and repeated the process until he could see the cause of the dust cloud.

From what he could deduce, because some of the dust obscured his vision, there was a battle of some sorts going on between a pack of Mightyena and an Arcanine. _Probably for territory….._ He thought as he watched the squabble, the battle lasted approximately ten minutes from his calculations. He analyzed each and every one of the combatants, every move they used, every technique they conceived and every style of fighting they did, he did his absolute best to engrave them into memory, in case he ever encounters any of them in a duel. But the next thing he saw confused him.

One of the Mightyena, presumably a female due to its size, jumped in front of another Mightyena as the Arcanine was about to bite the latter Mightyena. The Arcanine bit the leg of the former Mightyena; the Mightyena screamed, from what he could tell on its face as the Arcanine threw it. The Mightyena flew in an arc and hit its back on one of the rock-trees, to which he winced, despite not feeling the pain himself.

…

Cerna's vision spun wildly as she landed with a thud from the throw. Her injury on her hind leg throbbed like hell and the bruises on her body made her sore. Apparently, Schnitzel found a carcass and took it, thinking that it was untenanted. But as you can see, that wasn't the case. She watched the battle go on, from her half-lidded eyes, she could see her hunting party members fighting the Arcanine but despite it being outnumbered, the Arcanine seemed to be holding on its own.

She wanted to help, to show that she isn't what they thought she was, but she couldn't move to do anything as her body shut down as a last resort to survive. Her mind wandered as she continued to watch the fight, seeing that there is nothing more productive to do. Her mind was rattled from her perplexed thoughts when her ears registered a loud thud. Her eyes opened slightly wider from the sound so she could see more clearly on what caused the noise. One of her pack members managed to take down the Arcanine, and she was very surprised to know exactly _who_ when Cronolis, the pack leader, addressed the Mightyena.

"Trutos. Well, that was, quite a surprise. Well done." Cronolis said, at first bewildered. All Trutos did to Cronolis's rare compliment was nod and then he jumped from the top of the dead Arcanine.

Cerna knew Trutos. Trutos was a Mightyena she sometimes hung around with. He was always quiet, not saying a word, at least to her, because sometimes she sees Trutos "talking" with the other tribe members. Although he never replied to her when she spoke, she still appreciated his listening ears and his non-bully behavior towards her.

Cronolis went closer to the Arcanine and examined it. "Yup, it's dead for sure." He declared before turning and ordered. "You three! You're dragging this back to the tribe grounds!" The three in questioned groaned at the order but did as they were told and started dragging the now-carcass. Cronolis watched the rest of the pack leave and prepared to leave when they were nearly out of sight when a Mightyena nudged him. "Hmm? What is it?" He asked the Mightyena. The Mightyena in question pointed to Cerna.

"What about her?" The Mightyena questioned. Cronolis turned to look at Cerna and stayed silent for a while.

"She is too injured. If she recovers, she wouldn't be able to hunt anymore." He answered with no emotion in his voice before he ran to catch up with the rest of the pack. The Mightyena whom he answered took one glance at Cerna before he too ran to catch up with the rest.

Cerna's brain, which was slow in registering the information, realizes what her pack members are doing and tries to stand up, but falls back down to earth when she felt too much pressure on her injured leg. The fall caused her brain to start shutting down and her eye sight started to blacken into a tunnel. She fought her shutting down brain to stay conscious but all she managed to do was a measly sentence before she lost consciousness.

"Don't…..leave…me….."

…..

…..

An hour passed the forest of rocks and nothing changed other than the light. Cerna was still unconscious and her body was still battered and bruised from the fight. She was still alive, there was no doubt about that, but she won't be for much longer. A creature walked up her motionless body and examined her.

"No….It can't be….." The creature said. He then sniffed Cerna's unmoving body and reeled back when he recognized the smell. "It _is_ Cerna!" The Fraxure shouted. And yes, it was none other than Ifret the Fraxure whom Cerna met just yesterday.

"Man, she looks pretty beat." He commented as he lifted her on his arms. He examined her injuries to assess their scale of damage. She had bruises all over and a broken hind leg. He looked side-to-side to see if anyone was around and seeing no one was around, he walked off to with Cerna in hand.

…

…

The time that has passed was unknown to Cerna as she started to regained consciousness. The first thing her mind registered was that there was a dull ache in her hind leg instead of a hell throb. The second thing as she opened her eyes was that someone was in front of her, and that someone seemed to be sitting in front of a fire. And the last thing was that she smelled something familiar. Involuntarily, her stomach grumbled having not been fed in recent time. The grumbling sound caused the figure to turn around to Cerna, and it sighed in relief.

"Thank goodness you're okay."

And then the smell and voice clicked. It was Ifret, Ifret the Fraxure. Once again, her stomach grumbled again after the thought. Ifret laughed softly after the sound subsided.

"I guess you're hungry huh?" He asked and then reached out to his obscured side and put something in front of her. "Here, eat this." He suggested, pointing to the objects in front of her.

Cerna looked at the objects in front of her. They were blue in color and round in shape and seemed to have an unusual aroma to them. Cerna flipped through the pages of her memories to see if there were any mentions of these strange objects, but came up with nothing. Ifret, almost as if he was reading her mind, answered her unsaid question.

"These are what I call 'Oran Berries.' They'll heal you up a bit if you eat 'em." He explained.

Cerna then looked at the "Oran Berries" before she took a bite out of one. She was surprised at the taste of the object, it was harder to chew than meat but it certainly tasted better. It was also juicy, so it quenched her thirst. The pain lessened in her leg as she gobbled up the Oran Berries feverishly and was nearly gone when she finished. She lapped up the juices left on her lips.

Ifret smiled at Cerna as she ate and when she finished, he started to eat his own meal. Now that she was fully conscious, she started taking note of her surroundings. The landscape was just like what she's seen for most of her life, a black, barren rock field with the volcano in the far distance. The only difference is that it was night time. But she knew for sure that she wasn't here before she was knocked out, which brought a question to Cerna's mind.

"Why…..Why did you…..heal me….?"

Ifrety looked at her and stopped eating and stared.

"Well, you helped me, so I thought I might help you." He said with his mouth full, or at least what Cerna thought he said. He then chewed and swallowed the meat in his mouth before adding. "Besides, I wouldn't have the heart not to." He said with a smile and then he continued eating. Cerna just stared at Ifret, surprised at his answer, and then started to lie down to get some sleep.

…..

…..

It was well into the night when Cerna opened her eyes, but still lay down. She looked to her side, and saw Ifret's sleeping form in the moonlight.

"Um, Ifret?" She asked uncertain. With her eyes, she could see Ifret's form shift in place before she heard a reply.

"Yeah?" He answered.

"Do you think I can….come with you?" She asked hesitantly.

"…..Sure." He answered with a smile, that Cerna couldn't see in the dark.

And with that answer, Cerna smiled as well and went back to sleep, feeling unusually hopeful for tomorrow.

…

…

It was morning and Ifret was walking with unusual cheer with each step accompanied by Cerna, following him wherever he was going, which made several questions form in her head about it.

"So…where are we going?" She questioned.

"Well, I plan to go to the other side of the volcano over there." He answered pointing at the volcano in question.

"Why are we going there?" She asked.

"To find Rayaquanza." He replied plainly.

"Rayaquanza?" Cerna repeated.

"Yeah. Remember I said that I found out something?" Ifret inquired, to which, Cerna nodden. "Well, I found out the cause of the land being so desolate and the only way to stop it is finding Rayaquanza, the Lord of the Sky."

"Really?" She said bewildered and keeping her thoughts to herself. To which, Ifret nodded, and both continued walking to their destination.

But then Ifret stopped just in front of a Lava River, as well as Cerna. While Ifret continued to stare at the Lava River, Cerna looked at her surroundings. It was similar to the rock forest she and her hunting party fought the Arcanine, except the "rock trees" are more spaced farther from each other. She looked to Ifret and finds that he is contemplating on a solution. A slurred popping sound transpired and Cerna saw that it was a bubble that erupted on the Lava River. Cerna blinked and didn't think much on the bubble popping.

"All right, I know what to do." Ifret declared and then pointed to one of the "rock trees" nearby. "We can use one of those rocks to cross over the 'river' without melting."

"Why don't we just jump?" Cerna suggested.

Ifret shook his head and retorted. "Nah, I can't jump that far."

To which, Cerna nodded in understanding. The duo then walked up to the rock that Ifret pointed at.

"Okay, in three, we start pushing this over okay?" Ifret said.

"Okay." She replied. The two then backed up a few meters before stopping.

"One,

"Two,

"Three!" Ifret shouted and the two charged at the rock at full speed. Both bashed the rock with their sides and the rock shook at its foundations. The two watched the rock as it fell and formed a bridge over the Lava River. "All right, let's cross it before it melts!" Ifret yelled and scuffled over the makeshift bridge with Cerna speeding behind him.

On the other side, the two panted from the exertion but in Cerna's case, she gasped lightly while Ifret was panting as if he had run a hundred miles. Cerna looked over the rock bridge and it started melting right after they had crossed it as Ifret had said it would. But something intrigued her and she walked closer to the Lava River. She perplexedly stared at the constantly surfacing bubbles. Cerna tilted her in confusion at the bubbles; she wasn't so sure if that was a regular thing but something in the back of her mind said it wasn't.

But then something appeared from the lava, instantly slowing her perception of time. The thing, in slow motion, made to grab Cerna at the neck. But her instincts and shock caused her to reel back, making the thing jump over her and land behind with a light thud. She immediately turned around, her perception of time back to normal, while Ifret stood up in a split second to face the assailant and shouted.

"It's a Magmaris!"

The Magmar wasted no time to attack. Flames started forming in its tubular mouth and it fired a streak of flames without a moment's hesitation towards Ifret. Ifret, in retaliation, flames started forming in his mouth and fired it at the Flamethrower aimed at him. The two Flamethrowers collided and exploded. The Magmar not letting up charged towards Ifret with its arm crackling in electricity. Ifret stood in a defensive posture to prepare for the impact, but before the Magmar could reach Ifret, a series of dark purple ring formed into a beam shot towards its side, sending it flying but it landed without a bruise.

Cerna howled, raising her spirit before rushed towards the Magmar with her fangs glowing. The Magmar saw Cerna coming towards it, and reared it fist back and ignited it in flames. It hit Cerna square on the head making her land on the rocky ground. The Magmar prepared to fire a Flamethrower in close range but was stopped Ifret struck it with his tusks, pushing it away. The Magmar slid to a stop, and in the blink of an eye, it fired another Flamethrower at the duo. Ifret retorted with his own Flamethrower and the two Flamethrowers pushing at each other instead of exploding. In the midst, Cerna stood up and fired a Dark Pulse from her maw.

It exploded on impact on the Magmar, making it grunt and stop its Flamethrower. With nothing pushing against Ifret's Flamethrower, it rushed forward and hit the Magmar, making it grunt in pain again. Ifret stretched his claws and they began to glow purple-blue. He crossed his arms and he dashed towards the Magmar while it was dazed. The Magmar shook out of its daze and crossed its arms in defense as Ifret hit it with Dual Chop. It then pushed back Ifret making him scream as he flew. When Ifret was shoved out of the way, it fired a Flamethrower at Cerna.

Cerna weaved out of the way just as the Flamethrower grazed her foot. She grits her teeth in pain from the Flamethrower. She howled once again and hurtled at the Magmar with her fangs glowing yet again, but this time she managed to bite the Magmar on the arm, making it scream. But she realizes that it was a mistake as the heat from its body started to heat her fangs, but before she could let go, the Magmar started to thrash around trying to throw her off and managed to do so. She screamed as she flew and she landed beside Ifret, who was gathering his energy, with a thud.

Ifret shook himself and dashed towards the Magmar with his claws glowing purple-blue once again and this time, struck the Magmar twice making it slide backwards. Ifret winced after he struck the Magmar and realizes that his arms are burned from making contact with the Magmar. Not wanting to make his arms have open wounds, he used his tusks to scrape the ground and then slammed his tail on the fragments, launching them to the Magmar. The Magmar was still recovering when the rock shards hit on the chest, it staggered back and then it glared at Ifret for a second before it more intense flames started forming in its mouth. Ifret, thinking that this was not a good sign, raced towards the Magmar as fast as he could to hit it with his tusks, but was too late as the Magmar fired an intense blast of flames straight at him.

Ifret was enveloped in flames and flew back beside Cerna and crashed on the ground. Cerna, who was trying to concentrate, saw Ifret come into view in front of her. She saw that his body was singed from the intense heat and she could hear Ifret groaning in pain. She really wanted to attack but her mind just won't concentrate, being distracted by the burning sensation in her mouth and the spreading heat from the tip of her toes. She turned to see that the Magmar was charging up even hotter flames in its mouth that was white in color.

_We're gonna be burned and then eaten, there's no reason it __**won't**__ eat us after we're singed…._ She thought bitterly as her body seemed to give up while Ifret appeared to be trying to stand up but failing.

The Magmar reared its head as it prepared to fire the stored up flames, but before it could fire it, a series of bubbles streaked across the air and exploded on its skin making it lose its concentration. The Magmar stood a while before it fell with a thud, its energy drained and unable to battle. Cerna watched the whole exchangement with confusion and amazement, as Ifret finally managed to at least sit up. He was surprised to see that the Magmar down and presumanbly out, he then turned to Cerna with a surprised face.

"Did you do that?" Ifret gasped. To which, Cerna shook her head as an answer, too bewildered by what she saw. "So then who did it?" Ifret asked.

"I did."

The two immediately tensed up and turned to find a blue frog standing behind them with an indifferent face.

….

….

**Author's Note: **And there you have it! My first "good" fanfiction. I feel happy that I finally finished a chapter of one of my stories _and_ posted it and I think it's pretty good for a first try by a teenager. But I'm not very confident in my writing skills so constructive criticism will be much appreciated. I will update when I finish Chapter 2.

So until next time, keep drawing and writing!


	2. Chapter 2: A Mysterious Forest

**Chapter 2: A Mysterious Forest**

Cerna gaped at the creature that saved them with wonder while Ifret stared daggers at the frog. The creature had a thin stature, the skin on most of its head, as well as its hands were dark blue as the skin on its lower jaw and most of its body was colored light blue. It had a white foam bubbles surrounding its neck and looking like a scarf and its eyes were yellow while its iris was black, and it stared at them with an indifferent face.

"Who are you?" Ifret demanded rather aggressively.

"I am Kyonis." The blue frog answered, seemingly ignoring Ifret's tone, but the next thing it added proved wrong. "And might I add that you do not act so hostile towards someone who just saved your lives."

"Yeah, like I'd believe that." Ifret retorted. Cerna being too distracted by seeing this new Pokémon, her mind didn't consciously register her surprise on Ifret's behavior.

"What…are you?" Cerna asked unexpectedly. Both Ifret and the newly-introduced Kyonis turned to her with dismayed and indifferent faces respectively. Ifret looked like he was going to burst out something but was beaten to the punch.

"My kind is called Frogadieru." Kyonis answered plainly. Ifret lightly slapped his palm on his face which made Cerna wonder why he did that. Ifret then looked at Kyonis, not letting up his death gaze.

"So, why'd you save us?" Ifret demanded in a bitter tone.

"Humph. Very well, you may know my reason, after a long while I find that this is not my home so I seek to find where my kind truly dwell, on the other side of the volcano." Kyonis explained, pointing at the volcano in the end. He looked back to them to continue his explanation. "But I cannot reach it by myself so that is where I ask of your assistance."

"Why should _we_ help you?" Ifret sneered.

"Pardon me, but I thought you should introduce yourself before you ask questions." Kyonis said sternly with surpressed anger. Ifret scoffed at the Frogadier's remark.

"I'm Ifret, that's Cerna. Now, tell us why we should help you." Ifret answered bitterly.

Kyonis was about to snap at Ifret until he was interrupted by Cerna.

"Well he saved our lives is one thing and another is he can help us if we see more of those Magma-what-cha-ma-call-it." Cerna reasoned.

"It seems that the Mighteanno has more reason than you _noble_ dragon." Kyonis said, mocking the word "noble."

"Rrrrrr…..Shut your trap frog! You _asked_ us! So we have a right to say 'no!'" Ifret shouted which surprised and perplexed Cerna even more.

"My request still stands dragon, so do you accept or not?" Kyonis sternly said scowling. Ifret looked like he was about to make a large argument, but stepped in, literally, and answered instead.

"Yes, we'll accept your offer." Cerna answered, causing Kyonis's face to smile while making a very distressed Ifret.

"Good." He said satisfied, before walking off. "Well? Shall we head off?" He asked before continuing.

"_What?!_ I didn't agree to **this!**" Ifret complained before shuffling to catch up with Cerna and Kyonis. It took a while, but when he did caught up with Cerna, he whispered out of breath. "Cerna! Why are we-no, _you_ agreeing with him?"

"You can see as well as I do his reason is legitimate, even if it's not the _entire_ truth." Cerna reasoned, slowing down so Ifret can catch up. Ifret just growled at that, knowing that it was reasonable. Cerna sighed. "All right, we can keep an eye on him if you really think he's going to something not so good." Cerna whispered.

Ifret smiled at that and started walking more jauntily, which made Cerna smile, the reason unknown to her. Completely forgetting the Magmar even existed.

…..

…..

"Uuuuugh…Ifret?" Cerna groaned as they continued to go around the volcano with Kyonis up front.

"Yeah?" Ifret answered.

"Do you have any more of those 'Oran Berry' things?" Cerna whimpered, flinching slightly with each step. Ifret shook his head at the question.

"Nope. You see it's hard to find those things seeing that there's not a lot of 'trees' in this place as those things grow on them." Ifret explained.

Cerna groaned once again at the answer, the pain of her injuries starting to get to her.

"Excuse me! But I believe I spotted something of interest!" Kyonis shouted in the distance.

"And besides, the injuries weren't too bad." Ifret said before scuffling towards Kyonis, eager to find out what Kyonis saw.

"Tell that to my feet…." Cerna mumbled as she just walked in their direction.

…

When Cerna finally caught up to them, she saw they were gawking at something, so she asks. "What are two looking at?"

Ifret points to where their gaze was, and Cerna followed it and she gasped at we she saw. It might not have been impressive to us today, but to them, it was as if they saw a Legendary right before their eyes. Trees, row upon row of them, in all their majestic splendor and wonder, were right before their eyes. Their leaves were bright, vibrant green and their trunks of wood were healthy brown, and their aroma was fresh and relaxing, just as the tales of long ago had described these legendary entities.

"Wow." That was all the bewildered Ifret could manage off his tongue.

"Are….are these trees?" Cerna asked to be sure she wasn't imagining things.

"Yes…..I am certain on that…" Kyonis answered, bewildered as well.

"Well enough gawking," Ifret declared. "We still have some time before it turns dark so let's get moving!" Ifret started to walk straight into the forest.

Kyonis followed Ifret fuming something about "specie stubbornness", Cerna soon tagged along too and finally entered the forest. But as she entered, a chill went down her spine that her higher, more intellectual part of her brain quickly dismissed as she walked through the forest.

The forest was unlike what the tales of old described from Cerna's point of view. The trees were very close together when they entered the space left in between the trees were filled with bushes and shrubs that might be poisonous as the tales of old told. And they were narrow, like they were tunnels dug up by Excadrill. The sun seemed to darken when they entered as well, but that might have been her because of the time passing she reasoned.

She looked at the tops of the trees they passed by, looking for berries to eat after what Ifret said some time ago. But unfortunately for her, her efforts were unfruitful-pardon the pun. Her thoughts were broken when she heard Kyonis and Ifret arguing up ahead.

"Why do _you_ have to be up front?" Ifret protested, poking Kyonis's shoulder.

"Because I am more capable of leading the way and tracking from experience than you are, _dragon_." Kyonis sneered pushing off Ifret's claw from his shoulder.

Cerna sighed, still puzzled on what makes them argue in the first place since they just met. But then again, she hasn't known Ifret very long either. Not wanting a full out brawl, she interjected their "conversation" with a question.

"Ifret, are you sure berries grow on trees?" She asked out of a mix of tiredness and dread.

"Well I can track just as goo-eh? Oh, Cerna, um yeah. I'm sure they grow on trees like these." Ifret shouted at first before quickly shifting his mood to answer Cerna's question.

With her sharp ears, she could hear Kyonis mumble something incoherent, most likely a complaint on Ifret. Cerna then shifted her mind to reply.

"Well then why aren't there any on the trees around us?" She questioned looking at the treetops. Ifret followed Cerna's gaze and then looked back at her as he somehow walked without seeing what's in front of him.

"Probably because these aren't Oran Berry trees." Ifret reasoned before looking onward once again.

_No….There's another reason why there aren't any berries on those trees….._Cerna thought in the back of her head as dread started to berate her mind.

"Excuse me but can we make haste? The sun will go down soon so we have to find somewhere safe to rest for tonight." Kyonis complained.

"All right mister leader sir." Ifret mocked, doing a mock salute, striking a vein in Kyonis's patience.

"Perhaps I shouldn't have helped you when that Magmaris was about to kill you…" Kyonis remarked bitterly.

"Oh yeah!" Ifret shouted looking as if he was about to mug Kyonis.

Cerna just sighed not knowing what to do to break up a fight that kept going on. After all, she wasn't an omega and she was still puzzled on how omegas do it. She looked up to see what time it was but her dread just filled even more when she saw that the daylight hasn't changed on bit since she last looked.

_Run…..Not safe…Place not safe…_Her instincts told her in her head, a shudder running through her spine as she continued moving through the forest, observing the eerie changes.

The forest seemed to wither and fade in vibrance and color. The leaves first started to turn brown and then to black while the trees' trunks changed in similar fashion. The bushes and shrubs in between also withered and faded as they continued on, making her dread rise even more than she wanted.

"Guys…..I think we should get out of here…" She suggests timidly, keeping her head down. Ifret turns to face her as Kyonis continues to walk in the passageway.

"Why's that?" Ifret inquired seemingly not noticing the desolate landscape.

"I just got a bad feeling about this place….I mean; it just turned from lush to dead." She replies.

_Run….Place….not…safe…._Her instincts told her once more and her dread rising again. Ifret takes a look around and then looks back at her.

"You know the land isn't exactly at its greatest because of Gorodon's and Keeyoger's fighting is making the place desolate." Ifret shrugged before catching up Kyonis.

Ifret did make a good point, but that didn't ease her mind or lessen the dread in her heart as she continued walking through the forest.

_Run….._

….

The rest of the way lasted like an eternity when only about five minutes passed as the trio continued through the forest. Ifret and Kyonis were far ahead when she heard something from the distance.

"How can this be…..?" She faintly heard Kyonis said. She kept moving forward and eventually caught up wth them. When she looked around, she saw that they were in what we would call today room-like clearing in the forest. But to her dismay, the trees and shrubbery were still closely packed together.

"I knew we shouldn't have followed you." Ifret grumbled. She turned to see that Kyonis and Ifret were side-by-side, "discussing".

"Um….Guys?" She queried. But the question fell on deaf ears.

"Oh? At least we went somewhere without much trouble. Who knows what would have happened if we followed you!" Kyonis protested.

But before Ifret could even say one word, Cerna stepped in.

"Guys!" Cerna shouted at the top of her lungs.

"Huh?" Ifret and Kyonis said in unison, staring at Cerna.

"What's wrong?" She asks kindly.

"Oh, you see we're in a dead end." Ifret informed her as if it was nothing major which made Kyonis glare at him.

"So why don't we head back the path we came?" Cerna suggested. Ifret blinked and asks.

"What path?"

Kyonis and Cerna stared at him gravely before swiftly turning around to find that the path they went through was indeed not where it was and instead the trees and shrubs continued on like a wall.

"How….?" Kyonis said in disbelief.

"Great, what now?" Ifret questioned snapping Kyonis out of his bewilderment.

"Well…..I guess you could try to break through the trees with your tusks." Kyonis proposed, too shaken to insult Ifret.

Ifret for once did not retort and instead nodded with a smug look on his face. He then headed over to the nearest trees hitting it with his tusks and claws. Kyonis sat down and started to formulate a logical meaning to how the path seemingly disappeared but was coming up with blanks. Cerna sat down as well and watched with her dreadskyrocketed as Ifret continued to strike the tree. She didn't know how or why, but her instincts told her that something terrible is about to happen.

Ifret continued to hit the tree, only causing scratches on the trunk. But everyone stopped what they were doing as a tremor and a loud echo rumbled through the area.

"Treeeee…"

Everyone swiftly turned to the source of the growl and saw a tree looking as if it was trying to stand up.

"What the!?" Cerna shouted as the ground shook even more.

"It's a Trevenant!" Ifret informed loudly, trying to keep his balance.

The Trevenant roared vociferously, shaking the ground and causing everyone to cover their ears in a vain attempt to block the sound. The roar and the quake stopped when the Trevenant's body was surrounded by a green light. It swung its arms forward as if it was directing something. Roots from under the ground shot up and raced towards the trio.

The three dodged the roots as they struck were they formerly were. Cerna skid and turned around to launch a Dark Pulse at the root that attacked her, destroying it. Ifret and Kyonis did the same thing with their own moves to destroy the roots. The Trevenant roared in annoyance as the three landed without a scratch.

Ifret turned and faced the Trevenant. He reared his head back with flames forming in his mouth and fired them at the Trevenant. The Trevenant moved its arms upward, summoning a wall of roots blocking the Flamethrower. When the Flamethrower dissipated the wall of roots lowered as the Trevenant launched blue wisps at Ifret.

Kyonis grabbed some foam from his foam scarf and discharged them at the wisps. The foam and wisps collided just in front of Ifret, preventing him any lasting damage. Ifret then rushed towards the Trevenant with his claws outstretched and glowing. The Trevenant pushes Ifret away when he came close with one swing of its arm sending Ifret flying.

Once again, Kyonis grabbed foam from his bubble scarf and launched them below Ifret as he crashed, softening his landing. Ifret looked side-to-side confused as to why his landing was soft. He then looked to see Kyonis with the smug face this time.

"That's _twice_ that I saved your life." Kyonis said smugly before he sped towards the Trevenant. Ifret then stood up.

"No way you're gonna one-up me!" Ifret shouted and started to rush to battle with the Trevenant who was distracted by Cerna and Kyonis.

Ifret outstretched his claws and they started to glow purple-blue as he closed in on the Trevenant. The Trevenant pushed both Kyonis and Cerna away as Ifret was about to strike the Trevenant. The Trevenant, unable to react in time, staggered back after it got hit by Ifret.

The Trevenant was about to attack Ifret in retaliation but screamed as Cerna, who'd just recovered from the earlier attack, bit it. The Trevenant thrashed around violently and managed to throw Cerna off. Cerna crashed nearby as Kyonis fired more foam at their opponent.

The foam hit several parts of the Trevenant's body. The foam stopped the Trevenant from punching Ifret right in the face. Ifret took his chance and started hitting the Trevenant with several parts of his body. He lands an especially powerful hit, pushing the Trevenant several feet and breaking the foam keeping it still at the same time.

The Trevenant quickly recovered and then launched blue wisps at Ifret again. And once again, before the wisps could hit Ifret, a Dark Pulse attack, courtesy of Cerna, destroyed them. While that happened, Kyonis hit the Trevenant with a Quick Attack. As Kyonis was in mid-air, he was struck at the torso by one of the Trevenant's horn-like branches.

Kyonis flies through the air and his back hits a tree and then he slumps down to ground. The Trevenant prepares another Will-O-Wisp for Kyonis but screams in pain as Cerna bites its other arm, making let loose the Will-O-Wisp. The Will-O-Wisp hits the base of tree nearby Kyonis.

The tree starts to tip and was on a collision course with Kyonis. Kyonis only managed to lift his body up as the tree was about to squash him. But Ifret tackles the tree, pushing it off course. Ifret looks at Kyonis with a smug face.

"Now you owe me one." Ifret says teasingly and offers Kyonis a claw, to which he accepts and Ifret pulls him up.

Meanwhile, the Trevenant manages to shake off Cerna and hits her with Horn Leech, sending her flying and landed with a thud. Ifret rushes towards the Trevenant, the Trevenant sees this and blocks each attack Ifret does. Ifret then stops and quickly fires a Flamethrower on its face.

The Trevenant screams and clutches its face in pain as it staggers away. Ifret knew his chance and was about to scrape the floor with his tusks. But instead of digging up rocks, it deflects like magnets on the same pole. The Trevenant saw that Ifret was dazed and swiftly launched a Will-O-Wisp.

The Will-O-Wisp hits Ifret on his face and splits like a bullet, its burning effects spreading to his arms and chest as well as damaging him. The Trevenant quickly follows up with Horn Leech at the ready, but Kyonis, who for some unknown reason didn't help earlier, defended Ifret with a Quick Attack sending the Trevenant off course.

As the Trevenant staggered, a howl was heard and immediately was followed by a wobbling and enraged Trevenant who was smack dabbed in the face by Cerna's Take Down attack. The Trevenant clutched its face in pain after the attack.

"IFRET, NOW!" Kyonis shouted.

Ifret knew what his cue and reared his and lauched his strongest Flamethrower at the Trevenant un-clutched its face and then is engulfed in flames. The Trevenant screamed as the Flamethrower lasted and when the flames stopped, it sat down in a smoldering heap, its eye glowed out.

"We did it…" Kyonis panted as all three of them watched the defeated Trevenant.

But then the Trevenant opened its eye and slammed its fists on the ground causing roots to appear from under the three, sending them flying in an arc. The three crashed onto the ground, badly injuring them. They all looked with terrified faces as the Trevenant walked up and swung its arm, making everyone's vision turn dark.

**Author's Note:** Well, here's Chapter 2, and it's shorter than I intended. But I wanted to end it there. I felt it was good, but I'd like to hear your opinion.

And because of the short chapter, I tried to extend it by extending the battle scene. But it's still only half of Chapter 1….But I still enjoyed it, especially when Ifret and Kyonis were arguing.

I have to say that update speed will most likely slow down and my story might be on hold 'cause of internet connection and uh technical issues. I will update when Chapter 3 is done.

Oh! And for those who want more up-to-date status reports (or are just curious), can check me out on the Serebii forums. Where I spend my time when I'm not writing (and have internet connection).

So until next time, keep writing!


	3. Chapter 3: An Outlandish Day

**Chapter 3: An Outlandish Day**

A smell, a smell was the first thing her mind registered as she regained consciousness. Her eyes were still glued shut but she made no effort to open them. The smell was relaxing; it was similar to the smell the Oran Berries emit but much more soothing. But she then tensed up as memories of what had recently transpired came into her awareness.

_Ifret!_ She thought desperately, shocking her body as she stood up and opened her eyes. But what she saw was something she did not expect.

"Something wrong Cerna?" Ifret asked staring at her with no idea what she was thinking. While in the background, Kyonis and another Pokémon she has never seen before looked at her with weird-ed out and concerned faces, respectively.

Cerna blinked. Her brain not coming up with an answer as it tried to decipher and register all the stimuli it was receiving. The most notable was the new Pokémon before her eyes. The Pokémon was tall and reptilian. It stood on two legs and its skin was light green. Its head had two crests on its head and its eyes were had yellow sclera with black pupils that have a red underlining. Its arms had what looked like to her was two sharpened leaves while in place of a tail was a bush-like appendage.

"Uh…Cerna?" Ifret asked again tilting his head.

"Wha….What are you?" Cerna asks the new Pokémon, obviously snapped out of her bewilderment.

The question caused Ifret to fall, in what is described as today as, anime style while Kyonis looked even more weird-ed out while the strange Pokémon just gave an amused smile.

_Seriously! Why does she do that!? It's gonna embarrass me to death!_ Ifret thought annoyed as he picked himself up. But the abruptness of the question didn't seem to deter the new Pokémon.

"My kind is called Sceptiria. My name is Anthea." The Sceptile kindly replied.

"Well, it's nice to meet you Anthea." Cerna said happily as she bowed to the Sceptile, something she was taught when she was young. Anthea smiles at Cerna's respect at bows her head in return.

Now that her mind wasn't distracted, she finally pays attention to her surroundings as her new friends have their conversation. She was surprised to see what environment she was in. Insteaad of the new forests or the old volcanic field, she was in, what was unknown to her, a house. The walls and ceiling were peach in color while the floor was wood brown. There was furniture in several points of the room such as shelves and desks, again, not knowing what they were in the first place. And on the furniture were books. Hordes of them that some of them were even on the ground.

"What is this place?" Cerna asks to nobody in particular.

"It's called a house." Ifret answers with a confused look. "Didn't you live in one?"

"No." She answered plainly.

But as she stared at the strange sight in front of her, a question came to mind when she remembered what had as of late.

"Did, you save us?" Cerna questioned, looking at Anthea. This caused Ifret to sweatdrop, even though he had no sweat glands, once again embarrassed of the ludicrous questions.

"Can you please stop with the questions, Cerna? It's not exactly polite…." Ifret begged, doing his absolute best to stifle his annoyed embarrassment. Cerna's mood immediately saddened at Ifret's statement, but perked up when Anthea spoke.

"No, no, it's all right. I can understand why she is asking those questions," She commented to Ifret before turning to Cerna to reply. "And no, it wasn't me who save you, it was my daughter." She said looking out a distant window.

The trio follows Anthea's gaze out of the window and saw that someone was outside. The group moved closer to the window to see who and what was exactly outside. The creature looked similar to Anthea. It too was reptilian and bipedal with light green skin. But except the two crests that Anthea is one crest that looked more like a long leaf to Cerna. Along with that leaf crest were other leaves, more specifically its three leaves on its arms and two leaves in place of a tail.

"Who is that?" Cerna asks as she focuses all her sight on the Pokémon.

"That's my daughter, her name is Anyea." Anthea responded.

Cerna was about to ask something but decides to do it quietly and turns to Ifret.

"Ifret? What is she?" Cerna whispers and she saw seem to sigh in relief.

"I think she's called a Groveelan, the younger stage of a Scetiria." Ifret replies quietly, eyes also glued on Anyea as she sliced a dead sapling in half with her leafy arm appendages.

Kyonis tries to see through the window but Cerna's and Ifret's combined mass didn't allow anything but a glimpse through it. As he tries and fails to find a spot to see through the window he bumps into a nearby shelf and spills a book and an ancient version of a pencil. He picks the book and pencil and finds it intriguing. He looks around the room to find that the object he's holding is all over the room.

"What are these things?" Kyonis inquired as he continued viewing the room.

"Those are books. My husband says he 'invented' them. You're able to store information for a long time in a written form." Anthes answers, handing a book to Kyonis.

Kyonis takes the book and puts down the other one he picked up. He opens it and finds different symbols and letters as he flipped through the pages. He closes the book and returns it to Anthea to which she takes and returns it to its respective shelf. Kyonis then gets the book that fell earlier and opens it and was mildly surprised to find that there was nothing on the pages. Anthea sees this and answers his unsaid question.

"Before my husband died, he left several blank books hoping that Anyea would write in them but as you can see, she is focusing on training more." She says, with sadness in the end. Kyonis looks at the blank book and then looks back Anthea.

"May you teach me how to uh, write?" Kyonis asks, the last word new to him. Anthea nods and says,

"Sure."

As Kyonis was talking with Anthea, the two-Cerna and Ifret-watch Anyea with fascination and amazement as she trains. Cerna wanted to go outside but a certain something was stopping her from doing that.

"Um, Ifret?" Cerna starts off.

"Hmm?" Ifret answers, seemingly not wanting to answer but still does.

"How do you get out of a 'house'?" She asks causing Ifret to fall down anime style again.

…

…

…

Anyea prepares to practice once again. She shifts her stance into a basic fighting stance. She takes a deep breath and focuses her light absorbing abilities on the crest-like leaf adorning her head. She takes another deep breath, speeding up light absorption temporarily and focusing her aim on a withering tree.

She relaxes the chlorophyll process on most of her body to increase her efforts to absorb as much of the little sunlight. Her leaf crest starts to glow white in color from absorbing light. Slowly, the leaf grew brighter and brighter as Anyea focused as much energy to this attack. The leaf atop her head started to glow very bright white and knowing she has absorbed enough sunlight, she opens her mouth to prepare to launch it.

A sphere of light appeared as she wills the energy from her leaf and into the point between her two open jaws. The flickered in size as she tries to keep it in existence. Her mind starts to get clouded from depriving her skin and leaves from doing their conversion of sunlight into energy. But she quickly regains her focus again as the sphere finally stays one size in her mouth.

This is it, the moment she had been waiting for in her all of her training life. She was about to do it, the ultimate specialized Grass attack. Solarbeam. She had to have her concentration at the max in order to pull this off for the first time. She reared her head to fire. But just as she was about to launch it, the door of her house slammed opened, breaking her concentration.

The break in her concentration makes her swallow the sphere of light energy involuntarily. The explodes in her mouth with nowhere to escape, the force of the internal explosion causing her to fly backwards as if she was hit in the chest. She crashes on the ground with her mouth sizzling and making smoke.

_Ruined once again…_Anyea's mind thought bitterly as her blurred vision and ringing eardrums picked up sights and sounds.

"Is she okay?" A voice she registered as a female stranger asked worriedly.

"Anyea! Anyea dear, are you okay?" A voice she recognized as her mother's demanded desperately. To which, Anyea groaned and she heard a sigh of relief, most likely from her mother she deduced.

"Don't worry Anthea; it's only a slightly burnt tongue. Nothing too serious." A male voice she couldn't recognize informed.

Anyea groaned as she clutched her head while she was being lifted up by someone from behind her. She shook her head to try to get rid of her blurry vision. And it worked, to some degree. After a few more seconds, her hazy sight settled into real hard images. She saw that her mother was right in front of her while a Mightyena flanked her right and a Frogadier was behind her mother, whereas someone beside her was keeping her steady.

Anyea shook her head again before she finally said something.

"Who was the nincompoop that slammed the door?" She said rather irritated.

"Well, _I_ was the nincompoop you are talking about _miss_. But I was teaching my friend something and I didn't know that you were concentrating." Another male voice retorted rather insulted. It was the one who was keeping her steady and although she couldn't see the owner's face, she could imagine his face contorted into an insulted scowl.

"Well I'm sorry, but when something explodes in your mouth you won't exactly be in a happy mood." Anyea said half apologizing, half sarcastically commenting as she dusted herself off.

"Oh yeah, sorry 'bout that." The same insulted male voice apologized.

Anyea turned to her right to see who was the owner of the voice and found that it was the Fraxure she saved in the dungeon.

"Dear? How about we go inside and heal you, hmm?" Anthea, Anyea's mom, suggested. Anyea looked at her mother before answering.

"Yeah, that'd be a good idea." Anyea answered with her burnt tongue sticking out, not caring if they thought that was gross as her mother ushered her inside with Kyonis and Ifret following.

Before Cerna went inside, she turned to look at the surroundings and was surprised to find that is was like the area they fought the Grass- and Ghost-type.

_But….it was so lush at first…..So why did it become so…..desolate?_ Cerna asked herself in her head as she went inside the house with the others.

When she went inside, she saw Anthea hoist Anyea onto a table. Anyea altered her position to try and find a comfortable one and eventually did. In that time, Anthea got a heart-shaped, pale blue berry and gave it to Anyea.

Upon seeing, Anyea took hold of it and placed in her mouth and began chewing it. When she swallowed it, she opened her mouth, allowing Anthea to see inside it. Anthea looked in it for a few seconds before nodded, seemingly satisfied and motioning for her daughter to close her mouth.

After that, Anyea hopped off the table and made her way to the very center of the house and sat down on the floor. Anyea noticed that Cerna was still in the doorway.

"Hey? What are you waiting for?" Anyea questioned, motioning her hand to come in.

Cerna perked up, realizing she was in a self-induced trance, made her way inside the room and sat adjacent to Anyea. Ifret as well as Kyonis, who was carrying one of those objects that were scattered in the room, made their way to the center of the room, sitting on Cerna's left and right sides respectively.

"Well since you're here, might as well have a conversation, huh?" Anyea suggested jokingly.

"Yes, perhaps that would be ideal." Kyonis mumbled as he did something to the flat object he was holding with one hand.

"So…where do we start?" Ifret asked, not fully sure on what to ask.

"Well, how about why are all the trees look like they're dying?" Cerna questioned, looking at Anyea.

"Well, it's bit of a long story. So I suggest you brace yourself." Anyea warned, which made Cerna curious, Ifret look like he was bored and Kyonis to look at her expectantly. As if she didn't notice she as the center of attention, she started to do her lecture.

"First off, it's because of Gorodon, who my father believes to have made the land, and Keyoger, who my father believes to have created the seas, are fighting which is causing the main reason why this place looks so desolate. My father called them Mystery Dungeons. Places where time and space are ruined because of overflowing imbalance toxins from the Reverse World.

"And because the imbalance toxins are the energy of imbalances from our world, it poisons the land and alters the space and time in certain areas which make that area very unpredictable and the Pokémon in it are very territorial and insane because of the imbalance in those areas. And the place becomes like a Carnivine, there's almost no chance of getting to the other end of the space anomaly." Anyea stated, finishing her lecture. At the end of it, it made Ifret very much awake, Kyonis very intrigued and leaving Cerna very confused on all the terms and words she used.

"Very interesting…." Kyonis mumbled as he moved a stick ontop of the object he was holding.

"Maybe that's why I couldn't get through the forest…" Ifret said trailing off.

"I'm sorry but I didn't understand most of it." Cerna commented. Anyea sighed.

"I'm sorry, but I don't think I can explain the terms my father used right now…." Anyea said, obviously not in the mood.

"So if Mystery Dungeons cause the reality in that area…..does that mean everything that happens doesn't follow what we are normally used to?" Kyonis questioned.

"Yeah, basically, yes." Anyea answered.

"So was the place we were in a, Mystery Dungeon?" Cerna asked, delaying the last bit as the new words were hard on her tongue.

"Yeah, I was training in the Mystery Dungeon when I saw that old tree tryin' to finish you guys." Anyea explained while Kyonis continued to write in his book.

"Say, do you have any information on Rayaquanza?" Ifret abruptly requested. This sentence caused everyone in the vicinity to stare at Ifret like he was crazy. "What?"

"Why would you want information on Rayaquanza?" Anyea asked puzzled.

"Well, that's why I left my home, to find Rayaquanza." Ifret stated plainly.

"Um….All right, give me a minute, okay?" Anyea assured before turning her head to her inquire with her mother. "Mom? Did dad write anything about Rayaquanza?"

"Not much," Anthea stated while she took hold of a piece of paper and handed it to Anyea, "but he did write one page about it."

Anyea held the paper and examined both sides and found that there was writing only on one side. She turned to her mother and thanked her before muttering, "that's strange….." which made everyone look at her in curiosity.

"It's nothing. Anyways, from this page, it says that Rayaquanza is able to control the weather and stop two certain creatures from fighting." Anyea said.

"Nothing else?" Ifret questioned, seeming to desperate.

"Well, it says that he got this information from a certain 'Emera Town'. But other than that, there's nothing else." Anyea informed Ifret.

"Awww…Well, I guess that's okay…..Thanks Anyea." Ifret said with disappointed cheerfulness. Anyea in turn gave a "sorry" smile.

"Um, Kyonis?" Cerna started.

"Hmm?" Kyonis responded as he continued with his activity on his little object.

"What are you doing with that thing?" Cerna inquired as she pointed at the object Kyonis is holding. Kyonis looked at the object was holding before looking back at Cerna.

"This is what Anyea's mother refers to as a 'book'. And what I'm doing is practicing to write." Kyonis informed somewhat irritated. "Or at least _was_ doing."

Ifret looked over Kyonis's shoulder to see what Kyonis was "writing" and instantly covered his mouth in a vain attempt to conceal his laughter, but then he burst out in laughter, deciding to mock Kyonis, which in fact was working as a vein popped and a death glare was produced from Kyonis.

"Now what is it that our _noble_ dragon finds ever so amusing?" Kyonis demanded, poison dripping into each word.

"That stuff you put looks _RIDICULOUS_! Is that how's it supposed to like?" Ifret gasped before continuing to laugh. Kyonis stood up, his book and presumably his pen-like pencil safe on the floor, and faced Ifret with his teeth gritting, which Cerna never knew was even there.

"Well I'd _love_ to see you do _better_, oh _noble_ dragon. Oh wait, I forgot, _brutes_ can't do anything delicate." Kyonis insulted, nearly shouting, which made Ifret stop laughing.

"Oh yeah? Though guy? I'd like to see _you_ beat _me_ in a fight!" Ifret barked.

Kyonis was about to retort until he was disturbed.

"Can you two not fight please? You will wake any nearby Pokémon and we don't want that." Anthea intervened, stopping the vocal battle.

"Yeah, it's getting late…" Anyea said, looking out the window then turning around to the group and suggested. "How about you guys stay for the night and then you do what you want tomorrow?"

"That sounds fine to me." Cerna says before looking at her comrades. "What do you guys think?"

"It seems to be ideal for me." Kyonis responded.

"Yeah, guess that'd be good." Ifret replied.

…

After those confirmations, Anthea made three makeshift beds from leaves, withered and alive, and something that she had referred to as "cloth". Which somewhat confused Cerna on trying to make something comfortable to sleep on, but she had put those thoughts at the back of her head as her senses were comforted by the makeshift sleeping area

Cerna fell asleep more quickly than she usually does, her body relaxed and tired from feeling the soft surface. While Kyonis and Ifret took a little longer because they had an argument, but that was swiftly cut short by Anthea as she and her daughter fell asleep. Of course, Ifret and Kyonis eventually fell asleep, without an argument thankfully, as the moon finally rose from its den.

…..

Cerna was dreaming, she knew she was as she couldn't remember waking at all, why she was dreaming, she didn't know. The area seemed to be some sort of plush, white area with the sky the usual cheery light blue.

She took a wary step forward, her mind not so sure if it can trust the "ground" she was on, but instead of falling, a dust cloud puffed up from stepping on the unknown surface. She took another step, and then another one, and then another, then she started to walk normally across the seemingly endless terrain.

She continued to walk, not really sure on why her mind would conjure up a dream with no apparent reason, but then again, since when were dreams reasonable? She still continued to walk through the monotonous landscape, with nothing much to do.

_The mind of mirrors,_

She halted in her tracks as the seemingly omniscient voice pass through her, or her mind, she wasn't sure which one picked it up first.

_The body of diamonds,_

She looked around the place in a failed attempt to see if she could find the owner of the voice.

_The soul of platinum,_

She ran forward, her mind reasoning that the possible voice was in the distance.

_And the heart of warmth_

She skidded to a stop as her brain told her that the voice was directly behind her, but found that it was not.

_When together, they relieve our minds,_

_When taken, they crush our thoughts,_

The fluffy ground started to shake violently from an unknown source. She franticly tried to keep her balance, but only managed to wobble around as the tremor increased. A crack formed just in front of her, causing to fall into the ground but not through the gape.

_The longer they stay apart, the longer chaos will reign_

For some reason, she looked through the crack despite the shaking, and saw from above two silhouette figures fighting another silhouette figure. One of the former figures fired something, assumedly from its mouth, at the latter figure. Another one of the former figures seemed to punch latter figure, causing the latter to fly straight towards her.

The back of the flying figure hit the "ground" she was under and caused everything around her to collapse, sending her, debris, and the punched figure, falling down to what her mind now deduced as earth. Her vision started to blacken as she fell, being hit by a megaton of force.

_But if the pieces are put back together,_

Below, she saw flashes that quickly turned into three, white glowing silhouettes.

_A light will shine and allow peace to envelope the land_

A bright light enveloped her vision as her senses started to dull

_Only if the delegates appear once again_

Suddenly, instead of hearing wind rushing pass her ears, she heard the faint noises of someone's voice.

"WAKE UP!"

The voice instantly shocks her awake, making her almost jump up in surprise.

"Whoa whoa! Calm down Cerna! It's just me!" A familiar voice shouted as she almost tackled him.

Cerna gasped as her heart started to slow down its pumping rate. She looked towards Ifret whose claws were held up in a defensive position. Cerna sighed.

"Oh, uh, sorry…." She merely stated in a glum mood. But that glum mood instantly shattered when her stomach grumbled, and might I add very loudly, which caused Ifret to laugh and everyone in the vicinity to stare at her.

"Wanna eat huh? Well, mom's going to get today's meal so just wait." Anyea informed her before going back to reading.

Ifret glanced at Cerna before heading off to do whatever he plans to do. Cerna looked around the room and saw that Kyonis was practicing his writing. With nothing to do, she decides to head outside.

It took a while for Cerna to open the door, but she did it, albeit leaving scratch marks all over the door handle. The area was still barren and the plants she has only heard of in legends were still withered.

She frowned; it seems that she would only have trees and plants in her memories. Her mind wandered as she sat in front of the house. The first thing that came into consciousness was the very realistic dream she had.

Her knowledge of things is slightly more than average, but that didn't mean she couldn't get befuddled. The reason why her mind concocted the dream, well, she couldn't find any.

She had never seen those figures at all and the voice…..She didn't understand anything it said. Platinum, Diamonds, Mirrors? She had never heard of those things and yet her unconscious mind said them as if it knew them and was used to saying them.

_Or is it?_ The back of her mind blurted which caused her to perk up in surprise.

The thought came out of nowhere but it made much more plausible possibilities race through her mind. The most prominent would be the possibility of her mind being tampered, but she wasn't sure what could do that since she heard that Psychics are unable to enter the minds of the Darks.

She would have continued to search the possibilities, but her thoughts were broken when a voice spoke up.

"Oh good morning Cerna. I've found some breakfast, want to come inside?" Anthea informed who was holding up a basket on her arm.

"Oh, um yeah, sure." Cerna replied as she followed Anthea inside.

…..

When Anthea arrived, she handed everyone a share of one berry each. Cerna asked what these berries were this time and explained that they were Lum Berries. It wasn't as tasty as the Oran Berries, but they were filling nonetheless.

As they ate, Ifret spoke for the second time today.

"So anyways Anyea…..Where is that place where is that 'Emera Town' you mentioned yesterday?" Ifret asked. Anyea swallowed her Lum Berry before answering.

"Well, I believe its west of here, at the bottom of a mountain range." Anyea answered as Kyonis and Cerna finished their meals.

"Do you plan on going anywhere?" Anthea inquired as she took another bite from her Lum Berry. Ifret stood up.

"Yup. I think we should head to this 'Emera Town'. If your father found information on Rayaquanza there, maybe they know more." Ifret responded confident.

"Hmm, I see. Do you know how to get there?" Anthea asked which caused Ifret to sweatdrop and look like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, which in turn made Anyea smile with an idea that pleased her.

"Hey, maybe I could lead you guys there. I've been there a couple of times." Anyea suggested with excitement.

Ifret took a look at Anyea quizzically and made him think for a while. Anthea gazed at Anyea with a knowing smile. After about a few seconds, Ifret nodded and spoke.

"Okay, I don't see anything bad to come out of it." Ifret replied happily, the answer triggered Kyonis's shock as his face portrayed.

"What!? You're just going to let her come along with us just that!?" Kyonis shouted outraged. The retort made an angry face on Ifret as her turned to Kyonis.

"Well _maybe_ because, unlike you, she didn't treat me like a _jerk!_" Ifret countered and then the two started to do an intense staring contest, with both their teeth showing.

Anyea grabbed her things excitingly and with haste after an unheard conversation with her mother, completely ignoring the boys' staring death match. Anyea made her way to the door at the speed of a mugged Kecleon. All Cerna did was watch with uncertaintly as the scene in front of her unfolded. Anyea, after fixing the thing inside the satchel she was carrying, finally noticed the males' intense death match.

"C' mon guys! It's still early in the morning so that means we can head out _now!_" Anyea yelled, beckoning the group and snapping Kyonis and Ifret from their silent fight.

All of them quickly made their way outside, with Anthea trailing behind them. When everyone was outside-save for Anthea, who was standing in the doorway, the now quartet made a simple formation. The guys up front with the girls rearing the back end. Before they left, Anthea spoke.

"Be careful Anyea, and make sure you don't get into any trouble." Anthea simply said.

"Sure mom! Bye!" Anyea said waving good-bye as she and the group headed off towards Emera Town.

When the group was far out of Anthea's sight she mumbled, "Stay safe….." as the wind picked up.

**End of Chapter 3**

Author's Note: Well there you go, the (I think) long awaited Chapter 3! I would like to apologize for the (I think) long wait; my internet connection was cut off, in a way.

Anyways, I'm satisfied that it's as long as I wanted it to be, and I think I got the handle on paragraphing. As for that dream scene, actually, it was an on the spot decision, but I think it went well.

But I'd like to hear your opinion on it, and as always, constructive criticism will be appreciated.

As always, I will update when Chapter 4 is finished, but it might even be slower with the new story I put up, (yes, I know. I'm getting ahead of myself) it's titled _The Order of Light: The War against Necromancers_, for those who are curious.

So until next time, keep on writing!


End file.
